


Always Lavender

by SeeEmRunning



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Growing Up, LGBTQ Themes, Questioning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21786616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeeEmRunning/pseuds/SeeEmRunning
Summary: Hermione grows up, marries Ron, and only then realizes something pretty important. T for language and sexual references.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown/Hermione Granger
Kudos: 37





	Always Lavender

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look I finally wrote ACTUAL fluff!

When Hermione started Hogwarts, she was the bookworm know-it-all with no friends. By November she had only two, but they were the best she could ever ask for. They risked their lives for each other, over and over, until trusting them was more natural than trusting herself.

The girls in her year whispered about boys their first two years of school and had a few dates, which they discussed shyly. Their third year the whispers turned to conversations, and by their fourth it was a dull roar, absolutely inescapable and constantly there. Hermione disdained those conversations and avoided them whenever possible. Hermione dated a Quidditch star, and Lavender - always Lavender - said it was only right their overachieving yearmate dated an international celebrity her first time out. She teased Hermione about "first time"s a lot that year.

In fifth year, she was too busy organizing the DA, reading up on Occlumency (and giving it a go herself), and fighting for boys to cross her mind.

In sixth year, she was utterly infuriated when Ron - bumbling Ron, troll Ron, bloody chessmaster Ron - dated Lavender - gorgeous Lavender, perfect Lavender, better-than-thou Lavender, always bloody Lavender. She's not proud of the way she reacted, the way she dated McLaggen to get Ron's attention back to her.

Then Dumbledore died, and she spent a year camping and running and hiding and fighting, and Ron bloody kissed her in the middle of a battlefield.

It was, perhaps, inevitable that she marry him. Trusting him was easier than breathing, and she adjusted to sharing space with him (and Harry) during that year on the run.

When she returned to Hogwarts for her seventh year, Ron joined the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and began working his way through the ranks. Lavender was the only other Gryffindor in her year to return. Hermione despaired of the boys' futures - but then, they were boys, and therefore assumed competent without having to provide a piece of paper to prove it.

Neither she nor Lavender slept well. More often than not they stayed up late, occupying themselves so they couldn't dwell, exhausting themselves until they were too tired to dream. More than once Hermione woke Lavender from nightmares. More than once Lavender returned the favor.

At their first Hogsmeade weekend, Ron and Harry appeared. Both were on the fast track to make Hitwizard, the first step above trainee. The Ministry lost too many during the war to keep to their old training schedule, their old hiring standards.

Hermione kissed Ron goodbye and then went to the apothecary to buy certain ingredients.

She brewed Dreamless Sleep in the lavatory she shared with Lavender. Lavender wanted some too and said not a word.

Living with only Lavender was lonely, but also nice. Hermione could always go bother Ginny's year if she wanted other company, but more often than not, she kept to her own space. Lavender was a surprisingly good study buddy, and an even better friend. She could never replace Ron or Harry, but she was fabulous in her own right.

And then one night, in February, Lavender threw her head back and laughed, and the moonlight kissed her neck, and Hermione's mind whispered that she should lick that moonlight right off her.

She spent the next two weeks in a panic, reminding herself that she was married to Ron, and it was just a fluke, and nothing was going to happen because she wasn't bloody interested in Lavender like that.

The panic went away. The reminders she kept, telling herself over and over that Lavender was just a friend, and would remain that way.

Until the first anniversary of what the Daily Prophet called "the Second Battle of Hogwarts" came, and everybody over the age of fifteen got drunk off their arses, and Hermione woke up cuddling with Lavender in her bed.

She managed to avoid being alone with Lavender the rest of the year, sleeping in the Room of Requirement and running away when she saw her outside of class. She had the feeling Lavender was avoiding her, in turn.

Once she graduated, she got a job in the Goblin Liaison office in the Ministry. The goblins hated her after that affair with the dragon, so she was swiftly promoted through the ranks by wizards who assumed that goblin hatred was better than a human's seal of approval.

Stupid fucks.

She stayed married to Ron, but she kept remembering that morning with Lavender. Those old, self-taught lessons in Occlumency helped her not dwell, but it would appear in her dreams until she banished it upon waking.

The next time she say Lavender, she was twenty-five and at the Ministry's Christmas party. Lavender had always been beautiful, but she had grown into an absolute goddess. Ron, to his credit, was a complete gentleman. Hermione was the one who had to fight to keep her eyes above Lavender's neck.

That night, Lavender played a starring role in Hermione's dreams, and Hermione woke up to a faint orgasm. She'd never climaxed in her sleep unless she woke to Ron's talented tongue between her thighs.

 _Maybe,_ she thought, _I'm not into guys._

The thought was as frightening as it was freeing. She was married to a man. A good man, albeit one who didn't necessarily understand emotions. A man who didn't deserve her doubts, who had proven himself over and over since they were children.

Six months later, she was still dreaming in ways she'd never dreamt of Ron. The background details changed, but it was always Lavender.

She took a bottle of firewhiskey to Harry and Ginny's flat, got pissed, and blurted it all out to them. A month later she signed divorce papers.

Ron tried to make it as easy as possible for her. He offered her the flat, the furniture, everything they shared. She refused to take advantage of him. At the end of the day, they ended up with pretty equal shares of it all. Harry and Ginny were caught in the middle, to an extent, but they were good about dividing time until emotions settled down. A year later, the four of them could meet up for dinner without exceptional levels of awkwardness. Ron started dating again.

The next time Hermione saw Lavender, it was when she was promoted to Head of Interspecies Cooperation. Lavender was the reporter sent to interview her in lieu of the political correspondent, who had taken ill.

Lavender hugged her in greeting. Hermione froze.

Lavender asked her questions about her career, her office, if she thought she'd end up here. She even brought up SPEW, which Hermione could now cringe at and admit to be an ill-thought-out organization. "I blame being fifteen for the way I handled that," she said, "but the end goal - mutual respect for all sentient beings - remains the same."

It would become her most famous quote.

Lavender sent her an owl the next week, inviting her to coffee. Soon they were meeting once or twice a week, rebuilding their atrophied friendship.

"So tell me," Lavender said after a few months. "Why did you start avoiding me at Hogwarts?"

Hermione's fingers tightened on her almost-empty paper cup. "Because when we woke up that morning, all I wanted was to kiss you."

Lavender blinked, then said, "So why didn't you?"

"I was married to a man."

"You're not married now," Lavender said, shifting in her seat across the table.

"I'm not," Hermione agreed.

Lavender eyed the few other patrons in the coffee shop. "Let's go for a walk," she suggested.

When they were away from prying eyes, Lavender grasped Hermione's hand and Apparated them to her house in York. "Still want to kiss me, Granger?" Lavender asked, heat in her eyes.

Hermione's stomach lurched. "What - _now?_ "

"When better?" Lavender asked, and slid her hand up to Hermione's shoulder.

"I - but I-" Hermione sputtered.

"Stop overthinking it," Lavender said, and kissed her.

It was nothing like kissing Ron. Kissing him had been nice. Kissing Lavender was something else entirely, something that lit up her entire brain and set her skin to fizzing. Something that made her stop thinking. Something that was far beyond what she'd experienced, that made even sex pale in comparison. Something all-encompassing and overwhelming and _good_.

When they broke the kiss, they stayed pressed together, foreheads and noses touching. Hermione laughed breathlessly, astonished that this was happening. This close, she could see Lavender's eyes weren't just brown - near the pupil they were more green, and on the ring of muscle the color faded to almost yellow.

"Yes?" Lavender asked quietly.

"Yes," Hermione said, and kissed her again.

It had always been Lavender.


End file.
